House of the Star by Caitlin Brennan

Author:Caitlin Brennan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates
Published: 2010-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

When Elen opened the gate to the other half of the ranch, she heard Sara’s gasp behind her. “You’re not supposed to know that’s there!”

Elen turned in the gate. The air on the other side was the same as the air she had been walking through all that night: dark, damp, and full of thunder. “Are you coming or aren’t you?”

“I can’t,” Sara said. “Neither can you. Not if we want to stay in camp.”

“So stay.” Elen turned her back on Sara and stepped through the gate.

Sacrifices in stories were more dramatic, with longer speeches, and usually involved weapons. This was just a sandy path down a hill and across a wash and toward the worldriders’ barn. Elen did pause to wonder why she was doing this, but the answer was clear enough. Whatever Ria was up to, it must involve a worldrunner. Bringing down Caledon was worth almost anything. Saving a worldrunner made it really and truly and absolutely worth doing.

Halfway across the wash, Sara matched her step for step. She was breathing hard, and not only because she had run a fair way in damp sand. “You think Ria went this way, too?”

Elen decided not to say anything about what Sara had just done to herself. “I think worldrunners know where Moondance is,” she said.

She did not wait to see or hear what Sara thought of that. She turned back toward the dark and trotted the rest of the way across the wash. Her feet knew where to step, though she had only been this way twice. Gradually her eyes adapted. There was thunder everywhere, and lightning lacing the sky. She was insane to be out in it, but the need to see Blanca had taken hold of her somewhere between the gate and the dry riverbed. It was getting stronger with every breath she took.

She stopped even trying to fight it, and let it pull her up out of the wash toward the barn. There were no lights in the upper story tonight, except for a lone, dim one on the end. The lower part was completely dark.

Most of the stalls were empty. Blanca was still there: Elen could feel her, and hear her whicker as they walked quickly by. There was a strong sense about her of waiting; and another sense, nearly strong enough to hear as words. Almost time. Almost.

Elen wanted to stop and ask that that meant, but she was afraid of losing Sara. Sara was already most of the way down the aisle. Elen caught up with her just as she opened a door at the end and flipped on a light. Rows of saddle racks lined the walls. Most had names on them, but no saddles or bridles. Only a handful of saddles were left in the room. There must have been forty of them missing from the racks.

The rack with Blanca’s name still had a saddle on it. So did the one above it, labeled hera. There was no rack for Moondance.

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